The Charleston Battery fell 1-0 on the road to FC Naples in Round 1 of the USL Jägermeister Cup group stage on Saturday at Paradise Coast Sports Complex. It was the first all-time meeting between the sides, and the USL League One leaders scored the lone goal of the night in the 18th minute. Pulling back an equalizer proved to be a bridge too far for the Battery, who will have three more group stage matches in the tournament to rally to make the knockout phase.
It was a relatively tame start to the night for both offenses, as only one shot was recorded in the opening 15 minutes by either side, an off-target attempt by Naples’ Luka Prpa.
After the quarter-hour mark, however, the game began to open up more. MD Myers had the Battery’s first shot of the night in the 17th minute, but his short-range shot off Cal Jennings’ cross was blocked. Naples managed to strike first via Karsen Henderlong to take a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
The hosts nearly doubled their lead in the 31st minute when Andrés Ferrín broke past Joey Akpunonu but had his run redirected by goalkeeper Luis Zamudio, who came way off his line. Chris Allan tracked back to the goal line and blocked Ferrín’s shot with his chest and Akpunonu was there to clear the ball away.
Charleston pushed forward for an equalizer but the Naples defense remained stingy and prevented the Battery from taking a shot through the 45th minute.
Zamudio made a massive save in stoppage time to deny Ferrín after the hosts sprung a promising counterattack but came up empty thanks to the goalkeeper’s resolute efforts.
Naples took a 1-0 lead into the interval. Charleston held a staggering 72% possession, but were unable to have a shot on target and were accurate on only two of 15 crosses.
Charleston came out of the break moving the ball more effectively after Houssou Landry and Johnny Klein entered the match. In the 50th minute, Houssou linked up with Chris Allan, who then played the ball to a crashing Jennings, but the striker’s shot from inside the box was just wide of the target.
Zamudio made another clutch save in the 50th minute to deny Julian Cisneros from just outside the 6-yard box.
Charleston looked to keep the pressure up on offense by introducing Rubio Rubín and Douglas Martínez into the match off the bench in the 72nd minute. It was a noteworthy moment for Rubín, which marked his club debut after joining the Battery in the week leading up to the match.
Aaron Molloy tested goalkeeper Edward Delgado twice in short succession, with powerful shots on target in the 74th and 79th minutes, but both were saved.
With at least 10 minutes of stoppage time added, the Battery aimed to make one last bid for an equalizer and force penalty kicks. Arturo Rodriguez was the closest to achieving that with a curler from the edge of the 18-yard box that hit off the far post in the 103rd minute.
However, Charleston’s attempts at the end were not enough, and Naples secured the 1-0 win in the opening round of the Jägermeister Cup group stage.
The result is an early setback for the Battery in Group 6, placing them sixth in the group. It was also the first time Charleston fell to a USL League One side since 2022.
Head Coach Ben Pirmann and defender Nathan Dossantos addressed the match after the final whistle, with key quotes to follow.
Coach Pirmann on the difficulties posed during the match…
Number one, full credit to Naples. They deserve to win. They got a nice goal in the build-up in the first half, and it took us until the second half to get off the plane and get off the bus and start playing.
In these cup competitions, things are crazy. It was a good mentality from the boys to keep going, keep sticking to what we try to do, have four or five chances, and hit the post in injury time. But, it wasn’t enough. So, big picture, very disappointing. We were nowhere near tough enough. It was one of the things we addressed all week. I think we thought we were just going to show up and out-talent them. You can’t do that in this country, you can’t do that in the sport. So, it’s the second time that’s happened this year, at some point, it’s on me to make sure we correct that.
Naples had a clear game plan of making it difficult in the central spots. But, even with that being said, right before they scored their goal, we had a great chance to make it 0-1, and had a couple of really good chances at 0-0. This is absolutely no disrespect to Naples, because they beat us fair and square, but it wasn’t about them and them making it difficult for us, or the field, or anything like that. It was all about us, especially in the first half, our lack of toughness, our lack of desire and motivation to do the simple things. That was far from anywhere near good enough from us, but our defense has been poor all season, but that’s on me, and me only, so it’s got to get corrected.
Coach Pirmann on the traveling support in Naples…
I don’t know if you could tell from the broadcast, but we had a really solid contingent of Battery supporters here tonight. And for me right now, we’re not playing well enough on the road, and for them to support us like that is tremendous. I think you could feel them urging us on and pushing us as hard as we could. It shows what this club and community and football community are all about, and I appreciate it. I know the players appreciate it, too.
Coach Pirmann on turning the page to next weekend…
The message is, you have to be tough. You have to outwork your opponent. It doesn’t matter if it’s Naples or Hartford or D.C. United or Tampa Bay or Detroit or San Antonio, any of the teams that we play. If you’re not tough and you don’t work your socks off, there’s no way you can compete.
It was addressed all week, we knew exactly how the game was going to play out. We knew where they were going to make us suffer. We knew where the battles were going to be, and we were nowhere near up to it. Sometimes, when you don’t have a player like Graham Smith and a leader who does it all for you, it makes you suffer. But, if we can’t work hard without Graham Smith, and we can’t be tough in our duels and individual performances, then each week, we’ll just keep suffering and learning from the mistakes. I thought we got over this after the North Carolina game, but we didn’t.
So look, we’ll just keep looking to improve. We’ll just keep looking to get tougher. As the guys get more fit and reintegrated into the team, we’ll have more options from the start, players who can play from the start instead of just 20-30 minutes off the bench.
Dossantos on his assessment of the match…
A lot of the time, we made problems for ourselves. We got caught in possession in the first half, maybe for being a bit too casual. I think we got away from the things that make us successful. We didn’t do a great job counterpressing and reacting when we did lose the ball. Then we let Naples get in behind a couple of times, where they got really dangerous chances, in the first half. Unfortunately, we didn’t find that equalizer in the second half and stoppage time.
We need to be better on the road. In the past couple of years, the club has been a strong team away from home, I think one of the better teams in the Championship in terms of points on the road. But this year, we haven’t had that. We need a bit of tenacity, a bit of that energy when we are on the road. I know we had the big win the other week in Indy, but it’s also about being consistent. I don’t think we have been consistent so far this year away from home.
Dossantos on the changes in the second half…
I think the second half was much better. Coach made some changes at halftime and tweaked a couple of things. But, naturally in the game flow, Naples are going to concede space, concede possession and defend. And, we’re going to push and get forward and get lots of numbers in the box, which we did. And unfortunately, despite us creating more chances in the second half, we just didn’t find the back of the net and that one to get us back in it. So it’s unfortunate, but we have to be better going forward.
The Battery’s next home match is on Sat., May 3, against Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Tickets for that May afternoon game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider.
Lineups and Scoring Summary
Lineups
CHS: Zamudio, Dossantos, Akpunonu (Houssou 46’), Archer, Blackstock (Martínez, 72’), Rodriguez, Ycaza (Klein, 46’), Molloy, Allan (Segbers, 76’), Myers (Rubín, 72’), Jennings
NAP: Delgado, Glasser (Fernandes, 87’), Dengler, Evans, Cisneros, Heckenberg, Ferrin (Garrett, 82’), Prpa (Sulia, 88’), O’Connor (Torrellas, 76’), Onen, Henderlong
Scoring Summary
NAP – Karsen Henderlong (Jayden Onen), 18’
